Mommy diary: The scenario that unnerved me

Yesterday, My parents and I took my daughter to the pedia for a check-up. It was past 6, and we were the second to the last in line when two women went in carrying a teeny tiny baby swaddled in a blanket. The baby was so small that it looked like it was a doll that was in it.

He was born just last week, June 16 (ka-birthday ni hubby), as I’ve heard from the interview of the pedia’s assistant. And he weighed just 1.4 kg. I got to thinking, Zee was almost 3 times heavier when I brought her to the world. I found it weird for a newborn baby to weigh that light (I learned afterwards that he was just 7 months when he was born).

While we were waiting for our turn, one of the women asked the other (both, I found out, were aunts of the newborn, as the mother was at their house — she couldn’t move yet after giving birth at home) if the baby’s lips looked dark. My mom, who was nearby, stood up and looked at the baby. His skin and lips were dark and the part near the eyes looked pale. He was asleep — or looked like it — but when the women tried to move the baby, he didn’t respond.

The assistant was getting a bit panicky and was asking the aunts if the baby was still breathing. One of them said he was. Suddenly we heard the baby cough a bit, and then he went still again. My mom told the assistant to tell the pedia about the baby (even if there was still a patient inside the room) because his condition seemed serious. The pedia checked and he still had a heartbeat, but his breathing was not normal. The doctor advised them to rush the baby to the hospital.

That whole scene kinda freaked me out a bit. If that happened to me, I wouldn’t know what to do. If it were my baby and I lost him just days after I gave birth, it would be more than heartbreaking. It would probably kill me.

I’m lucky — no, blessed — that my birthing experience came out well, even with the fever and cough, and Zee’s jaundice (which almost traumatized me). She’s turning 3 years old exactly 7 days after the time of this writing. And I pray she’ll be given more years to enjoy (and for me, more years to see her milestones).

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The scenario yesterday also opened my eyes on the sad condition of many of our deprived fellowmen who cannot afford to go to the hospital to get treatment because they don’t have the money to pay for it. I realized that there is, indeed, a need for more affordable hospitalization so that the poor can have access to quality medication and treatment when they need it, and not be shooed away by hospitals and medical centers just because they don’t have money.

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